SINGAPORE – As debates rage on either side of the fence on how, when, and to what degree media and creative agencies should collaborate (if not outright overlap), some outfits are taking a proactive approach to the conundrum, as in the case of WPP’s inclusion of m/SIX – a joint venture between CHI & Partners and Mindshare – under their The & Partnership label, which includes The Social Practice.
Formed in 2010, m/SIX is a boutique media buying agency with a wide portfolio of clients across various sectors, borne of a recognized need for data in creative endeavours.
“Now we’ve got media insights,” said Bates CHI&Partner CEO David Mayo. “(Now) we never go to a meeting without a media point of view because that has to be based on what you know about the consumer, what you know about the media, and media behaviour. Everything is driven by data.”
With Singapore as its Asian base, m/SIX opened offices in Malaysia, China, Hong Kong and India in 2013 to handle the needs of a client list that includes Disney, Pixar, WWF, Marvel, National Library Board, Vertu, Ferrero, Mitsubishi, Tune Talk, Pfizer, and F&N.
Fresh from his talk at Spikes Asia 2014, The & Partnership CEO and founding partner Johnny Hornby told adobo that agencies that want to stay relevant are rushing to integrate media as a matter of course. “We really were all happier when families would gather around to watch a 60-seconder after supper, but those days are gone.”
“The world is moving faster than the brand owners and even their media agencies and advisers are, so its incumbent on us if we want to do a good job to get with that program and get in front of that, rather than be 18 percent behind it.
I think if you want to sit with the clients, at top table and be able to advise them, one of the people you have to collaborate with is the person who is objectively trying to show them the way in terms of their media spend, and media allocations – rather than in wrong, old-fashioned media – we needed a partner who gets media, who have the analytics and the tools to be able to understand where the spend is going, and what response you’ll be getting from that spend.
The old adage is, “half of my advertising budget is being wasted, but I don’t know which half,” is disappearing, as I do think people are starting to understand, and (that is because) the data can tell you a lot. Having a media partner in GroupM, for us, is essential to understanding that data and use their tolls to be able to say to the client how they’re supposed to spend their money and exactly what they’re getting for it.”
So far, Hornby says, the collaborative model has been a winning one. “We started the partnership a few years ago in the UK, we’re approaching 200 million in billings in the UK, we’ve started to expand that to New York, so I would imagine you’ll start seeing the effect of that, increasingly, in Asia as well.”
